guys like my dad do not campbell on candidates like michele bachmann or newt gingrich. guys like my dad who compare to joseph stalin or adolf hitter and guys like my dad don't cozy up to texas governors who brag about seceding from the union or call social security unconstitutional. crazy didn't win, joe, but it also pulled down the nominee. >> the nominee wasn't willing to stand up to crazy. >> early on. >> there were so many times he could have turned, mike barnicle, to michele bachmann, let's say. who said something outrageous. wait a second. i'm a conservative. are you kidding me? to herman cain -- >> sarah palin. >> and all of these 0 other things that were going on, crazy never wins. but we learned another thing. you'd better stand up to crazy if you want to win in bucks coun county, pennsylvania, win in the i-4 corridor, if you want to win in the suburbs, if you want to win in the places where elections are actually won. >> well, i would ask you, john heilemann, as a key observer of the electoral scene, was not the die cast for mitt romney and perhaps, you know,